Grey Area

The last house on Main Street was on the edge of town, and the change was abrupt. Its lawn was edged by a row of trees and a fence. On the other side of the fence stood a field of corn that served as the front yard for the family whose property marked the start of farmland. Now there is literally a ‘grey area’ between the town proper and rural areas – paved over with asphalt and concrete of big box commerce. Both sides of the highway offer a mile of bleak, treeless, wind-whipped parking lots fronting huge palaces of retail.